Under One Roof

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER X. THE YOUNG PEOPLE. We have described the owner of Halcombe Hall, and also him who was practically the master of it; but we have given them precedence only on the time-hallowed principle of "Seniores priores." There was one other individual under that roof, quite as masterful by nature as Mr. Walcot himself, and who was looked up to by the whole family with a reverence accorded to neither of his two rivals. This personage was Baba Nicoll (aged 4), commonly called, half in irony, half in tribute to his social position, the Great Baba. The origin of this name, save that it was begotten of Love and Euphony, was lost, at the time we make acquaintance with him, in the mists of antiquity. It was certainly not given him by his godfather and godmother, who had in fact named him "Gerald." Perhaps he was termed Baba, after the Great Mogul called Babo; and the "o" had become "a" by one of those etymological processes so familiar to commentators; but, if so, he was a far greater potentate than his prototype. His dominions, indeed, were limited, being bounded on the north, on the south, on the east, and on the west, by the walls of his home; but within that region he was despotic. Nay, like the Czar of Russia, he might be said to be an object of worship. A prophet we are told is held in small account in his own country; but the Great Baba, who was oracular upon matters present only (and even on those never distinct), was held at home in a reverence not paid to prophets anywhere, even after the fulfilment of their vaticinations. Abroad, too, he was thought highly of; ladies and even ancient gentlemen were wont to stop him in London streets, or at the seaside, when he went forth in state in his perambulator, to do him homage; they did not, as in the case of the...


Genre: Literary Fiction